The ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) impresses in the test with a fast 144 Hz display, long battery life and good everyday performance. However, the Copilot+ PC is not free of criticism. You can read more about this in our test report.
Technical data
| The product | Vivobook S 16 |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26-100 (8x , 3.0 GHz) |
| Graphics performance | Qualcomm SD X Adreno X1-45 |
| Display | 16 inch; 2.5K IPS (2,560 x 1,600 pixels); 144 Hz |
| Storage space | 512 GB SSD (NVMe PCIe 4) installed |
| Working memory | 16 GB LPDDR5X-RAM |
| Keyboard | Chiclet; with RGB lighting |
| Operating system | Windows 11 Home |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E; Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Dimensions (W x D x H) | 357 mm x 251 mm x 17.9 mm |
| weight | 1.76 g (without power adapter) |
| price | from 899 Euro |
ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) Review: Silver silent performer
- appealing design
- Impeccable workmanship
- soldered working memory
With the Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA), ASUS relies on a silver-colored, matte design that is pleasantly well protected against fingerprints. The casing of the 16-inch notebook, which weighs around 1.7 kg, has an aluminum lid and frame and a base unit made of robust plastic.
The build quality is impeccable and the design, especially in the Cool Silver color scheme, also looks great. With dimensions of 357 mm x 250 mm x 17.9 mm, the notebook is also pleasantly slim for a 16-inch device and therefore well suited for on the go.
ASUS has also equipped the laptop with robust hinges that allow the display to be opened a full 180 degrees. This allows the screen to be folded down completely straight. A total of ten Trox screws provide access to the inside of the notebook. However, the maintenance options are extremely limited: The 512 GB SSD and the WLAN module are replaceable, but the RAM is unfortunately soldered in place.
Features and connections
- Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1 26 100
- 16 GB RAM (soldered); 512 GB or 1 TB system memory
- Good speakers
The ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) is available in two versions that only differ in nuances. Both models are based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1 26 100 processor with 8 cores, 8 threads, Adreno GPU and a Qualcomm Nexagon NPU with 45 TOPS performance.
As already mentioned, both models also come with soldered RAM. The LPDDR5X RAM has a size of 16 GB and is therefore well dimensioned for everyday tasks. However, you shouldn’t expect brute performance from the Snapdragon chip anyway.
The difference lies in the size of the SSD, as the Vivobook S 16 comes with either 512 GB or 1 TB of PCIe 4.0 memory. However, this can be expanded via an M.2 2280 slot. The price difference between the two laptop variants is 100 euros – but in practice we would still opt for the 1 TB model.
The equipment is rounded off by Wi-Fi 6E with excellent speeds, Bluetooth 5.3, microphones and excellent speakers with Dolby Atmos support. The speakers achieve an excellent maximum volume and play music and other content very well – making music, movies, series and games really fun.
ASUS has also equipped the Vivobook with a 1080p webcam. It also has a mechanical aperture and an IR sensor for Windows Hello login. The image quality is good and well suited for casual video calls or meetings.
Decent selection of ports in the ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA)
ASUS distributes the ports of the Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) on both sides and offers a decent selection. The left side has the following ports (from left to right):
- USB-C 4.0 (with DP-Alt mode and Power Delivery)
- HDMI 2.1
- USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 (5 GBit/s)
- 3.5 mm audio
There is only one additional USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port on the right-hand side. A second USB-C port would have been absolutely desirable in this day and age and an SD card reader would also have looked good on the 16-inch notebook. In any case, there should be enough space for this.
Impressive input devices and display
- Full-size keyboard
- excellent typing characteristics
- large, smooth clickpad
The ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) deserves high praise for its keyboard, touchpad and display. The keyboard has a full-size layout including a numeric keypad and offers a very pleasant and comfortable typing experience thanks to a key travel of 1.7 mm. In addition, the keys are pleasantly large, which minimizes typing errors – with the exception of the arrow keys, however, which appear very small and squashed.
It also offers three-stage white key illumination, which is great for working in darker environments. There is also a pleasantly large clickpad that is slightly offset to the left, is 15 cm wide and 10 mm high, offers excellent gliding properties and is capable of multi-touch.
Fortunately, ASUS has not skimped on the display either and has equipped the ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) with an IPS panel with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 pixels in 16:10 format, a brightness of 400 nits and a refresh rate of 144 hertz. It has a screen-to-body ratio of a good 89%.
The screen impresses with a very good picture quality, especially in terms of color reproduction and contrast. Only the color space coverage is a little poor, which is why the Vivobook is only suitable for color-critical work to a limited extent. It is also possible to adjust the brightness and color temperature using the sensor.
ASUS Vivobook S 16: Practical test, volume and cooling
- Good system performance
- mostly whisper-quiet; but very loud under load
- excellent cooling
The ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) benefits from a low operating noise level, not least thanks to the ARM chip. During everyday tasks, surfing, media consumption, office activities and the like, the laptop remains whisper-quiet at around 22 db(A).
Under full load, however, it can become very loud with a measured 46.1 dB(A) – too loud! It takes quite a long time for the fans to start up at all and the speed quickly reduces again.
The cooling also does an impeccable job and keeps the surface of the notebook pleasantly cool at a measured 39°C. In practice, the Vivobook is also very comfortable to work with on your thighs. Of course, the laptop masters most tasks flawlessly and reliably. The initial problems of the ARM platform have now been largely eradicated. There are apps here and there that do not run or are not compatible, but most applications can be run without any problems.
System information can also be viewed via the integrated MyASUS app. Here you can also set the fan settings and – as a result – the performance of the laptop. However, this doesn’t make too much of a difference in practice. The app is clearly laid out and scores with practical functions.
Benchmark: Productivity, system, SSD and gaming
The performance of the ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) is of course interesting, and I naturally took another closer look at it with the help of various benchmarks. For ARM laptops, there are only a manageable number of performance tests that can be used to compare the performance.
Geekbench 6, which measures the performance of the CPU in the single and multi-core range, as well as the power of the GPU, is now also new to our benchmark test track. In addition, Cinebench 2024 is now also available, which offers better comparison options with a new engine and a more uniform benchmark scene since September 2023.
The built-in SSD offers very good read speeds of 4,579.60 MB/s, but the write speed drops sharply to 1,759.89 MB/s. We have already observed this in the Vivobook S15 (our test). Nevertheless, all values are at a good level for the performance and price class.
Things get interesting in the system and CPU performance tests, where the built-in Qualcomm Snapdragon X X1-26 100 has to prove itself against the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P 42 100 in the Vivobook S15, but also the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 in the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge (our test).
Thanks to 4.0 GHz per core compared to 3.0 GHz, the latter is of course noticeably ahead in the single-core benchmark, while the Vivobook S 16 is at least ahead in the multi-core test in Cinebench 2024. However, things look different again in Geekbench 6.4.
| Benchmark | Result |
| Cinebench 2024 Multi Core | 629 pts. |
| Cinebench 2024 Single Core | 95 pts. |
| CPU-Z Single Core | 595.6 pts. |
| CPU-Z Multi-Core | 4,638.5 pts. |
| Geekbench 6 Multi Core | 10,413 pts. |
| Geekbench 6 Single Core | 2,129 pts. |
| Geekbench 6 GPU | 9,527 pts. |
The ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) is not suitable for gaming. But it doesn’t want to be – the built-in Adreno X1-45 GPU is simply not powerful enough for that. High-resolution 4K videos are no problem for the iGPU, but anything beyond that doesn’t really work.
| Benchmark | Result |
| 3DMark Fire Strike | 3.613 points |
| 3DMark Time Spy | 1,056 pts. |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad Light | 226 pts. |
| 3DMark Steel Nomad | 1,072 pts. |
Top battery life in the ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA)
- Very good battery life of up to 20 hours
- 65-watt power supply unit
A major advantage of the Windows-on-ARM platform based around the Snapdragon chips is the battery life. Although the ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) is “only” equipped with a 70 WH battery, the battery life is excellent.
In the practical WLAN test, the laptop achieves a runtime of around 17 hours at 50 percent brightness, with a frame rate of 60 Hz it is even a full 20 hours. In PCMark’s Applications benchmark, the laptop ultimately achieves 13 hours and 49 minutes, outperforming the aforementioned competitors.
ASUS provides the laptop with a compact 65-watt power supply that fully charges the notebook in around one and a half hours. The only downside: The power supply uses USB-C and blocks the only available port when it is plugged in.
ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) Review: Conclusion
Anyone looking for a reliable, (largely) quiet and durable notebook will undoubtedly get their money’s worth with the ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA). The Windows-on-ARM platform undoubtedly has its weaknesses, but if you don’t use apps that don’t run on it, this hardly bothers you.
Instead, the laptop impresses with a coherent price-performance ratio, a great 144 Hz display, really good speakers and an excellent keyboard. However, the Vivobook gets quite loud under load, the GPU performance is extremely low and the soldered RAM is a bit annoying.
If this doesn’t bother you, the ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA) is a convincing everyday notebook at a fair price.
- Good system performance
- 144 Hz display
- Strong battery life
- Successful keyboard
- Good speakers
- Soldered RAM
- Fan very loud under load
- Weak GPU
ASUS Vivobook S 16 (S3607QA)
Design & Workmanship
Display
Features
Performance
Battery
Value For Money
86/100
Good everyday performance, a coherent 144 Hz display, strong battery life and an excellent keyboard characterize the notebook. However, the soldered RAM and the loud fans under full load are annoying.
